Home Christian News Andrew Young, at 90, Views His Civic, Political Roles ‘As a Pastorate’

Andrew Young, at 90, Views His Civic, Political Roles ‘As a Pastorate’

Andrew Young
FILE - In this Aug. 28, 2013 file photo, former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young speaks at the Let Freedom Ring ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Young, a lieutenant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1960s civil rights movement, marvels at both the sizes and the spontaneity of the today's protests against racial injustice. The former Democratic congressman, Atlanta mayor and United Nations ambassador recalled activists spending three months to organize for a 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, campaign in which King and other protesters were jailed. He said only a fraction of the 500 demonstrators sought showed up. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

(RNS) — Andrew Young, a former civil rights leader, Georgia congressman and United Nations ambassador, doesn’t use “the Rev.” before his name much.

But the man who directed Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the 1960s said every stage of his adult life has been a form of ministry.

“I have viewed everything I’ve done as a pastorate,” Young, a onetime small-church pastor, said in a Wednesday (March 2) interview. “I really thought of Congress as my 500-member church.”

Likewise, he recalled making “pastoral calls” and praying with ambassadors representing some of the 150 countries that were then U.N. members.

“My model for almost every job I’ve had has been the model of a pastor servicing a congregation,” Young said. “As the mayor of Atlanta, I just had a million-member church.”

Born into, raised in and ordained by the Congregational Church — now known as the United Church of Christ — he has been a member of Atlanta’s First Congregational Church, a predominantly Black house of worship, since 1961. As he prepares to turn 90 on March 12, he continues to preach there on the third Sunday of each month.

“The Many Lives of Andrew Young” by Ernie Suggs. Courtesy image

“The Many Lives of Andrew Young” by Ernie Suggs. Cover courtesy of NewSouth Books/Getty Images

Young is marking his birthday with a four-day celebration from March 9–12, starting with a livestreamed “Global Prayer for Peace” worship service at the Atlanta church, followed by a peace walk, debut of the book “The Many Lives of Andrew Young” and a sold-out gala.

The graduate of what was then called Hartford Theological Seminary spoke to Religion News Service about voting rights battles then and now, religious aspects of the civil rights movement and his memories of working with King.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You intend to preach on peace and reconciliation to mark your 90th birthday. Has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed your planned message?

Andrew Young, top left, during his ordination at Central Congregational Church in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1955. Courtesy photo

Andrew Young, top left, during his ordination at Central Congregational Church in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1955. Photo courtesy Daisy Fuller Young Papers, Amistad Research Center

No, it hasn’t. Russia’s invasion has made my message even more central to the problems we’re having around the world. And Russia’s invasion is tragic and it’s even more tragic because it’s televised. But there are similar situations in many, many countries — in Latin America, Africa and other parts of Europe. And in these United States, we’re having a battle to protect the right to vote here in 2022.

You originally had plans to pursue dental school instead of seminary. What made you change your mind and do you ever regret the route you ended up taking?

My father chose dentistry. I never chose dentistry. Even as a 12-year-old, though I might have been working in a dental laboratory that my father wanted me to learn the business, I knew I didn’t want to do anything that confined me to an office. I’ve always been too full of energy and too rambunctious to stay in one place.